Delawares

[ijon]

Picked up fourteen Delaware hatching eggs from Luanne D' Amico in Florida today. I am on my way home to Michigan. Her birds are awesome. Huge and beautiful birds. Far, far cry from hatchery birds. This lady takes pride in what she does. These birds will make a super duel purpose bird. Also had huge german New hampshire and Barr Rock.

 

[Clsikes]

Where was she located down here? I have been looking for some close to me, and would like to get in touch with her if she has more to sell.

 

[ijon]

Go to her website, eight acre farm. She is a great person. I am glad my wife and I got to meet her. Good luck.

 

[Clsikes]

Got it, have been talking to her about some birds already.

 

[ijon]

Good, I think you will be really happy with them.

 

[carolinagirl58]

best egg birds EVER. Meat? not so much. I had 6 of them and they laid like crazy, all through the heat of summer and the cold short days of summer. They were awesome. They were pretty scrawny on meat though.

 

[blucoondawg]

Were they from the breeder mentioned in this thread?

 

[carolinagirl58]

no, they were not. they came from a guy who raised heritage birds. the original source was an amish breeder.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Also what age did you slaughter them? How did you feed them?

Back when Delaware were bred to be meat birds, 50 or more years ago, a good strain would reach 4 pounds at 10 weeks when fed a meat bird diet. With extremely few possible exceptions, they haven't been bred as meat birds since the development of the broilers. If the person selecting the breeding stock doesn't select for certain traits like weight gain, the flock quickly lose that trait. No hatchery is going to breed for rate of weight gain. Very few breeders will either, they are more likely to be looking at the finished product for "show quality" traits, the things the judge sees. But that can vary tremendously too with different breeders.

You can't compare hatchery chicks with breeder birds. The hatcheries are breeding for the mass market, not show, and their prices reflect that. Different breeders are going to be breeding for different things too. You need to know what you want and if the specific breeder is breeding for those traits.

The OP saw the birds that produced those eggs and hopefully had a chance to chat with the breeder. There is an outstanding chance they will be really happy with what they hatch.

 

[carolinagirl58]

they were kept as egg layers for the first two years and were fed laying pellets. When I got new hens, I gave mine to a neighbor. He slaughtered them soon after and was pretty shocked at how underdeveloped they were. My Cornish Rock Crossed at 8 weeks were so big that one breast was enough meat for my husband and I to share for dinner. The Delawares....I'd stew the entire bird for dinner. I would raise them again in a second for eggs because honestly they were the best I ever had. but not for meat.